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Canada has only 1 returning player. They also got beat up by the Russians in the annual 6 game suite against the 3 jr leagues.
Goalies might be better then usual however...better be.

I wouldn't put too much stock into what happened in that 6 game challenge series.
We got beat up?
I wouldn't say so.
The Russians won it 4-2 but the 4th win was in OT so it could have easily been a split which was exactly what happened last year.
At any rate, playing three hastily assembled league all star teams isn't the same as playing the actual junior team that will represent Canada.
I'm still fairly confident we can repeat.

Here we go guys. Heatleysucks you are always an optimist. TC will need a lot of luck to grab any hardware this year. And since I am a proven jinx I may have to tape games instead of watching live.

Well Chuck, I have to admit that last tune up game against Finland tempered my enthusiasm just a bit.
Canada's special teams were terrible for the most part giving up two PP goals and two shorties.
Mike DiPietro is supposed to be the real deal (my Ottawa 67s gave up a lot to get him at the trade deadline) but he looked ordinary in this game.
Scott wasn't much better...in fact statistically a lot worse.
I'm just hoping the performance was an anomaly and not a harbinger of things to come.
I heard Canada is riding an 11 year medal at home streak but if they have a few more performances like that the streak will likely end.

I hate running up the score - especially when it's my own guys. I've heard all the excuses - don't buy it. No need to embarrass anyone.
I was glad to see Denmark rebound with a decent game against Russia. Although nothing to show for it, SVK has looked good so far, as have the Swiss.

I agree with Heatleysucks, Canada's special teams are a weakness. IMHO especially the PK. They need a complete overhaul.

I hate running up the score - especially when it's my own guys. I've heard all the excuses - don't buy it. No need to embarrass anyone.
I was glad to see Denmark rebound with a decent game against Russia. Although nothing to show for it, SVK has looked good so far, as have the Swiss.

I agree with Heatleysucks, Canada's special teams are a weakness. IMHO especially the PK. They need a complete overhaul.

I thought Hunter could have called off the dogs after two periods when it was already 8-0.
But I suppose playing in front of a home crowd influenced the decision not to pull back.
What really pissed me off were the crowd shots after the goals, especially after goal 12 and 13.
They showed some ass clowns celebrating as if Canada just won gold in OT....I know these guys crave face time but curb your enthusiasm a bit.
It's Denmark people....that's like 'Bama fans giving high fives after scoring the 10th TD against Prairie View.
Classy.

Canada could have used some of those goals against the Swiss.
They got the job done (barely) but it was not a work of art.

I thought Hunter could have called off the dogs after two periods when it was already 8-0.
But I suppose playing in front of a home crowd influenced the decision not to pull back.
What really pissed me off were the crowd shots after the goals, especially after goal 12 and 13.
They showed some ass clowns celebrating as if Canada just won gold in OT....I know these guys crave face time but curb your enthusiasm a bit.
It's Denmark people....that's like 'Bama fans giving high fives after scoring the 10th TD against Prairie View.
Classy.

Canada could have used some of those goals against the Swiss.
They got the job done (barely) but it was not a work of art.

I was enjoying the game until the end of the 2nd. It became somewhat embarrassing after that. They could have stopped at 8-0 but, as you say, they probably put on a show for the home crowd. Doesn't make for good hockey though.
What about the Kazakh goalie making 51 saves in yesterday's late game? Pretty impressive. Very curious to see how the Kazakhs will do the rest of the way. Will they avoid the relegation round?

Pretty good effort by TC against CZE tonight, especially Dipietro. I thought the Czechs had the better of the play in the 2nd but ended up going down by a goal. Nice having a good keeper. I hope he keeps it up. New years eve against the little red machine will be interesting.

Pretty good effort by TC against CZE tonight, especially Dipietro. I thought the Czechs had the better of the play in the 2nd but ended up going down by a goal. Nice having a good keeper. I hope he keeps it up. New years eve against the little red machine will be interesting.

DiPietro is supposed to be a top goaltender prospect and he showed that Saturday.

Also, the Canadian PK and PP, which were roundly and justifiably criticized in the Swiss game, came to life.
This was Canada's best game by far but they'll have to ratchet it up a notch to take on the Russians.

I think Denmark is headed to relegation, Chuck.
Can't win if you can't score.
And they can't keep them out either...0-22 goal difference.
Worst looking Danish team I have seen in a long time.

Two for Ripleys:
1.) Hard to believe Sweden blew a 4-0 lead with ten minutes left.
2.) Hard to believe Sweden hasn't lost a round-robin game in 12 years. 48-0 (after tomorrow). ...AND they have only 1 gold medal to show for it. Here's a theory...Sweden excels at "systems" so early in the tournament they have a slight advantage over the teams still learning to play together. Later on, this advantage disapears. Any other ideas ?

Two for Ripleys:
1.) Hard to believe Sweden blew a 4-0 lead with ten minutes left.
2.) Hard to believe Sweden hasn't lost a round-robin game in 12 years. 48-0 (after tomorrow). ...AND they have only 1 gold medal to show for it. Here's a theory...Sweden excels at "systems" so early in the tournament they have a slight advantage over the teams still learning to play together. Later on, this advantage disapears. Any other ideas ?

And you know if they go unbeaten again in prelim round play only to lose gold they'll get crucified in the home media.
Swedish newspapers and media outlets, Aftonbladet in particular, are notorious for roasting Swedish teams if they don't perform up to expectations.
The most infamous example was the Sweden-Belarus QF game of the Salt Lake Olympics in 2002.
I think poor Tommy SAlo had to go into hiding after that.

Every time the Swiss play Canada they play a very sound defensive game and are opportunistic on offense. Hence I was really surprised watching the meltdown against Russia. Giveaways and sloppy D resulted in 4 Russian goals in the 3rd.

Well it's not like me to take a chance, but I'm picking a winner tonight. Have a feeling....the good guys over Russia to end 2018 with a bang.

Well, if it's any consolation I watched it on tape...what will be will be I guess.
I thought it was a great game, pretty even throughout.
On the game winner though, Pavel Shen was allowed to waltz through virtually the entire Canadian team to score.
He looked like Bobby Orr vs the Oakland Seals.

Watched the US-Finland game.
The Americans looked scary good, totally dominating Finland.
And this was without their considered best player, Jack Hughes.
Obviously would have preferred to face Slovakia but I like how we match up against the Finns.
Canada lost to Finland in pre tournament play but that was a very poor performance.
If Canada continues to play at the level displayed these past two games I think they'll win no problem.

Well, no medal for Canada this year, home ice or not.
2-1 OT loss ends the Canadian streak of 11 straight home ice podium finishes.
Heartbreaking loss as Canada was 47 seconds away from winning in regulation and missed an OT penalty shot.
Canada now joins Sweden on the sidelines as gold medal contenders knocked out early.

I never got the sense that Canada was on top of their game. If you put aside the 14-0 drubbing of Denmark, they really only had one great game, which was against the Czechs. 2 goals scored in their last two games is simply not good enough. Oh well, that is the way the game goes sometimes.

The Swiss: Very happy to see that they upset the Swedes. I hope they go far.

The Danes: They finally scored goals but still lost to the Kazakhs. I am sure they will be relegated and I don't think it will take the full 3 games to do it.

I never got the sense that Canada was on top of their game. If you put aside the 14-0 drubbing of Denmark, they really only had one great game, which was against the Czechs. 2 goals scored in their last two games is simply not good enough. Oh well, that is the way the game goes sometimes.

The Canadians almost made that one goal against Finland stand up but that tying goal...well, let's put it this way...the look on Mike Dipietro's face says it all.
And in OT Noah Dobson was set up like Ovie and looked like he was going to powder it into the back of the Finnish net.
Sadly, the only thing that got powdered was his stick...damn those stinkin' composites.
Then the Finns get a break the other way and a defenceman who hardly ever scores has one deflect off the shaft of Cody Glass's stick into the net.
Sometimes the hockey gods aren't smiling down on you.

The Canadians almost made that one goal against Finland stand up but that tying goal...well, let's put it this way...the look on Mike Dipietro's face says it all.
And in OT Noah Dobson was set up like Ovie and looked like he was going to powder it into the back of the Finnish net.
Sadly, the only thing that got powdered was his stick...damn those stinkin' composites.
Then the Finns get a break the other way and a defenceman who hardly ever scores has one deflect off the shaft of Cody Glass's stick into the net.
Sometimes the hockey gods aren't smiling down on you.

Bob McKenzie said the exact same thing on TSN. The hockey gods were certainly not with Canada: tying goal with 46 seconds left, Penalty shot miss, then the exploding stick. Just how much bad luck can a team have?

I wouldn't count the Dane Train out yet. Kazakhstan teams have a habit of choking. I was pleasantly surprised to see the score but Denmark carried play.

Denmark carried the play for sure but I think the Kazakhs have the better goaltender which is a real equalizer.
Demid Yeremeyev, you may recall, was the netminder in the 5-0 loss to Finland.
Obviously, Kazakhstan had no hope of winning that game but without Yeremeyev, the Finns would have easily reached double digits.
In a relegation series his netminding might prove to be the crucial difference as the Danish goaltenders remind no one of Frederik Anderson.

Just as I predicted, Kazakhstan beat Denmark in two games to relegate the Danes(4-0 today). Seriously, if you can't score a goal in 5 of 6 games, you don't deserve to be at this level. The Kazakhs won the games that counted and , at least, scored goals in most of their games in the preliminary round.

Just as I predicted, Kazakhstan beat Denmark in two games to relegate the Danes(4-0 today). Seriously, if you can't score a goal in 5 of 6 games, you don't deserve to be at this level. The Kazakhs won the games that counted and , at least, scored goals in most of their games in the preliminary round.

Was bound to happend and if hadn’t happened this year it most likely would have been the case next year and the given the performance of the 1999- & 2000-class this season and at the U18-level, it’s not that much of a surprise to be honest.

The coming classes have also struggled at the U16-level, so perhaps not the worst time to get relegated but a return also looks rather questionable for the foreseeable future.

Still the end result (five straight WJC-20 appearances) is a pretty good feed for a hockey country like Denmark.

Just as I predicted, Kazakhstan beat Denmark in two games to relegate the Danes(4-0 today). Seriously, if you can't score a goal in 5 of 6 games, you don't deserve to be at this level. The Kazakhs won the games that counted and , at least, scored goals in most of their games in the preliminary round.

The game and relegation series wasn't televised but I think it can be assumed the Kazakhs MVP was Yeremeyev.
He played both games, stopping 40 of 43 shots in game one and all 25 he faced today.
That's three goals allowed on 68 shots for a nifty .956 save percentage.
The Danish goaltending OTOH...not so stellar.
Mads Soegaard played Thursday allowing four goals on 19 shots...a save percentage of .789.
William Rorth was in goal in Game 2 and fared even worse than Soegaard, giving up four goals on just 16 shots.
That's a save percentage of .750...yikes.

Just as I predicted, Kazakhstan beat Denmark in two games to relegate the Danes(4-0 today). Seriously, if you can't score a goal in 5 of 6 games, you don't deserve to be at this level. The Kazakhs won the games that counted and , at least, scored goals in most of their games in the preliminary round.

The game and relegation series wasn't televised but I think it can be assumed the Kazakhs MVP was Yeremeyev.
He played both games, stopping 40 of 43 shots in game one and all 25 he faced today.
That's three goals allowed on 68 shots for a nifty .956 save percentage.
The Danish goaltending OTOH...not so stellar.
Mads Soegaard played Thursday allowing four goals on 19 shots...a save percentage of .789.
William Rorth was in goal in Game 2 and fared even worse than Soegaard, giving up four goals on just 16 shots.
That's a save percentage of .750...yikes.
EDIT
Actually two of the Kazakh goals were late empty netters.
So Rorth actually allowed two goals on 14 shots which still results in a SV % of .857.

The game and relegation series wasn't televised but I think it can be assumed the Kazakhs MVP was Yeremeyev.
He played both games, stopping 40 of 43 shots in game one and all 25 he faced today.
That's three goals allowed on 68 shots for a nifty .956 save percentage.
The Danish goaltending OTOH...not so stellar.
Mads Soegaard played Thursday allowing four goals on 19 shots...a save percentage of .789.
William Rorth was in goal in Game 2 and fared even worse than Soegaard, giving up four goals on just 16 shots.
That's a save percentage of .750...yikes.
EDIT
Actually two of the Kazakh goals were late empty netters.
So Rorth actually allowed two goals on 14 shots which still results in a SV % of .857.

Anyway you slice it, they didn't play well and their goalies were below average whereas the Kazakh goalies rose to the occasion at times (the 51 saves vs the Finns and the two relegation games).

By now most Canadians who care about this have gotten over the disappointment of the junior team's early elimination.
The ones who will take this the hardest of course are the players themselves.
Most people will only have words of encouragement and consolation for them...the reasonable people who understand fully what these kids have to go through.

But there are others...despicable cowards who hide behind aliases on social media...who viciously attacked these players for the egregious crime of losing a damn hockey game.
For example, the Canadian team captain Maxime Comtois who took the overtime PS and did not score, was particularly subjected to horrendous personal attacks.
So much so he had to shut off his accounts.
I won't repeat here any of the attacks that were leveled at him but some even included wishing he'd get a terminal disease.
What kind of person gets so bent out of shape they have to say awful things about teenage hockey players?
Some people in this country absolutely disgust me.